Education and Outreach

ELC’s education initiatives prepare tomorrow’s leaders to seek environmental solutions grounded in the inherent rights of nature, rather than in the assumption that nature is property to serve human desires.

We developed and have taught our "Earth Law" graduate level curriculum for several years at Vermont Law School, a world leader in environmental legal education. We have also instructed ecology and philosophy students at the California Institute of Integral Studies, home of leaders for the Earth such as Joanna Macy and Brian Swimme. We will be expanding our educational reach with an online version of this class.

We have presented on Earth Law and the rights of nature at numerous other universities, including:

Advance environmental protection by incorporating rights of nature into environmental governance. Earth Law recognizes that nature must be protected for its own health while giving local communities the right to defend nature in the courts.

Launch your own Earth Law Club to share a unique opportunity to learn about this new and growing body of law. If you already have an Environmental Law Society or club, Earth Law Extends the value of your club with hands-on experience with current legal initiatives including: rights for rivers in Mexico and the Great Lakes, rights for Marine Protected Areas in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

ELC also works with student teams and interns, such as from Yale Law School’s Environmental Protection Clinic. With Yale support, ELC and students advanced research and recommendations for campaigns around waterways' rights to flow and the exposure of co-violations of human and nature’s rights.

ELC also educates decision-makers, advocacy groups, and the broader public. Advocates worldwide have invited ELC to provide guidance on recognition of nature’s inherent rights in law. For example, ELC’s Executive Director has built relationships with:

ELC also addressed Beijing City officials on how to define and develop an “ecological civilization" that could include nature's rights.

ELC connects more broadly through its Earth Community mapping initiative, which illustrates the growing number of groups and initiatives worldwide advancing the legal, economic, and scientific elements of rights for nature.